Support Your Prophet—Peace and blessings be Upon Him
In this video message, Zawahiri celebrates the attack on the headquarters of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and is quick to claim credit for it on behalf of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. This of course comes at a time when Al-Qaeda’s central command is broadly seen as inactive and marginalized. He focuses on alleged double standards of the West regarding its support for democracy, tracing, as always, his grievances back to colonial times, whilst emphasizing more normative components of this grievance, with an obvious focus on the prohibition of ridiculing the prophet. He reiterates his criticism of the transgressors in Syria, noting that the route taken by IS contravenes the more inclusive plan for caliphate creation drafted by bin Ladin.